Seeking to mobilize citizens to achieve a "final victory" over the coronavirus, at a time when global health officials are trying to find out the facts behind this rise in the number of

infections and ways to prevent the spread of the epidemic on a larger scale, the people's daily, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party of China, said Wednesday in its editorial that " China and the Chinese people will undoubtedly

Beijing's cancellation of its strict pandemic-related restrictions a month ago led to the spread of the virus among 1.4 billion people who have little immunity due to the lockdown imposed on them after the first appearance of covid-19 in Wuhan three years ago.

Funeral homes have reported high demand for their services and hospitals are overcrowded with patients, while global health experts predict at least one million deaths in China this year. However, China has officially announced only a few covid-related deaths since adjusting its policy in dealing with the virus, and downplayed concerns about the disease, which it had previously struggled to eliminate through public closures even as the rest of the world reopened its borders.

China also criticized the decisions taken by some countries that required expats from Beijing to submit negative covid-19 test results, saying those decisions were "illogical.. It lacks a scientific basis".

EU health officials are due to meet on Wednesday to discuss a coordinated response to the arrivals from China. Most EU countries prefer to force travelers to submit a negative covid-19 test result before leaving China. Most EU countries prefer to have a covid test before departure for travelers from China.

On the other hand, officials from the World Health Organization met with Chinese scientists amid concerns about the accuracy of Chinese data on the outbreak and its mutation.

The organization had invited scientists to provide detailed data on the viral sequence and share data related to hospitalizations, deaths and vaccinations associated with the virus.

A spokeswoman for the organization said she would publish information about the meeting later, possibly at a press conference on Wednesday. The spokeswoman said earlier that the organization was waiting for a "detailed discussion" on the spread of variants of the virus in China and globally.